


New Moon

by Kahika



Series: Sanguine [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Blood Drinking, F/M, M/M, Mass Effect Kink Meme, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:24:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4268409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahika/pseuds/Kahika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turians can suck blood through their fangs to feed, injecting their victims with a venom that acts as a calming agent and counteracts pain at low doses but can amplify pleasure at higher doses. Of course, the ease of food acquisition these days means blood sucking and giving the accompanying venom has largely become an intimate act of trust. When there's a dextro food shortage on the <i>Normandy</i>, Kaidan volunteers Ashley as a meal ticket for Garrus. The squad needs to trust each other, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Moon

**Author's Note:**

> The original [](http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/profile)[masseffectkink](http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/) [prompt](http://masseffectkink.livejournal.com/9115.html?thread=43398299#t43398299):
>
>> As part of their totally normal biology, Turians can suck blood through their front fangs. This is seen as entirely normal and wholly justified given that many of the creatures on their world have plating and in order to feed, many have to suck blood by biting some weak spot rather than being able to eat the actual meat.
>> 
>> In order to keep the prey docile and stationary they inject a little bit of venom that acts as a calming agent and aphrodisiac. In small doses it just counteracts the pain and makes the prey not panic, in large doses it amplifies pleasure and makes the prey feel very calm and safe. After all, even ancient Turians didn't like to kill their animal prey once domesticated, better to keep the herd strong and growing, and they have instincts very good at telling them when to stop before it actually hurts their prey.
>> 
>> All the Citadel races know this, it's normal, just biology. Some Turians still do this, some even do it very carefully as an intimate act with someone they trust. After all, most Turians are physically incapable of draining so much blood that their partner would be in danger, they'd have to gorge like no tomorrow.
>> 
>> Then along come the Humans... with their damned Vampire myths complicating the whole thing, most Turians find it insufferable and annoying how their totally normal biology is being attributed things from some stupid Human myths.
>> 
>> Anyway, I'd like to see some Turian vampiric feeding during an intimate situation, either during sex or totally on its own, an OC pairing is fine, as is Shep/Garrus of course.
>> 
>> Aftercare is very important here, licking and treating the little bite wounds so they heal quickly, dealing with the light-headedness, generally sweet and snuggly aftercare for his mate/meal after heaving her/him pleasantly drained and quite satisfied.

"You're shitting me."

Vakarian stares. "Why would I make that up?"

"To creep me out," says Ashley, which seems the obvious answer.

He rolls his eyes. "Creeping out my new squadmate. That sounds like a good idea."

Ashley turns to Alenko with a wordless appeal in her eyes, because surely there's no way turians can actually suck blood through their fangs and inject venom to stop their prey from panicking, but he simply gives her an apologetic shrug.

"Sorry, Williams, I've heard of this before," he says. "A couple of turians were talking about it on a joint forces op I was on a few years back."

"Holy crap," she says. "You're a _vampire_."

Vakarian gives a deep sigh. "No, I'm not. I'm not _dead_ , for one, and as long as your requisitions officer orders enough dextro rations for the two of us, I don't need to drink blood for survival. You've _seen_ me in the sunlight and I don't burn or sparkle. Also, I can't fly or turn into... what are they called, those flappy black things."

He presses his thumbs together and flutters his other claws. Ashley stares.

"Bats?" Alenko supplies, and Vakarian nods.

"How did you -" she starts.

"One of the human officers at the station always brought early twenty-first century human vids to movie night," he explains. "Luckily, we outnumbered him and banned vampire movies."

"Okay, you're not a vampire," Ashley concedes. "But it's still weird."

"It's just biology, Chief," says Alenko, and though his tone's mild, she still feels like he's reprimanding her.

"But you humans finding it weird is one of the reasons why I'm not expecting any meal offers around here," says Vakarian. "Tali's the safest for me but _she'd_ get sick, and she and the others probably know that if it's done at all these days, it's usually with a lover or someone you trust. I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea when I'm really just hungry."

Ashley snorts, trying to picture the krogan's face if he thought Vakarian was coming onto him.

"Sorry, Officer," says Alenko. "Requisitions Officer Greico probably isn't used to ordering dextro rations - usually on joint ops, the turians have their own requisitions officer to handle their food."

Vakarian waves him off. "It's only a couple more days on starvation rations before we get back to the Citadel, and Shepard said she wouldn't take me and Tali out underfed."

Starvation rations because the requisitions officer screwed up on the only food you can safely eat. Ashley can't imagine serving on a ship (or, more realistically for her, on a garrison) where that's a possibility, but here he and nar Rayya are.

She wouldn't admit it out loud, especially to Shepard after the dressing down she got, but her respect for them just went up a little.

Something occurs to her, and she frowns. "Wait: If you can't eat our food, how can you drink our blood?"

"There's a fluid in our fangs that filters out the worst of it," says Vakarian. "I won't bore you with the details, but drinking your blood is actually safer than eating your food. No nutrition, but at least it fills you up. And a decent dose of the venom isn't enough to harm _you_ unless you have a particularly bad dextro allergy."

Ashley shakes her head in wonder. Turian blood sucking keeps getting weirder. Of course, she's not about to say it out loud and risk a _formal_ reprimand from Alenko.

Luckily, Alenko doesn't seem to notice her headshake, because he's looking thoughtfully over at Vakarian. "You mentioned earlier that it's done with someone you trust," he says. "Could it be used to _build_ trust?"

Vakarian's eyebrow plates come down as he flares his mandibles. "Yes," he says, stretching out the word like he's not entirely sure. "That venom I mentioned amplifies pleasure at higher doses as well as acting as a calming agent... I suppose it works for trust building." He pauses. "Why, Lieutenant, are you volunteering?"

"Not me," he says, and he looks back at Ashley.

She recoils. " _No_."

"It's not an order; just a suggestion," he says quickly.

"Chief, it's not like I haven't noticed you're the most... _distrusting_ person on this ship," Vakarian adds.

Ashley folds her arms and glares at Alenko. It hasn't even been thirty years since Shanxi. She's allowed to be a little suspicious of letting a cop with little regard for the law onto the fleet's most advanced ship.

"Unless you're scared?" says Alenko.

She glares harder, because she can never resist a dare and he's learning that quickly. " _Yes_ , actually. Is that even safe? Because he might not be a vampire, but blood loss is never fun."

"I'd have to go to town to put you in any danger," says Vakarian. "And I'm not _that_ hungry."

"I _am_ a medic," Alenko points out. "I can supervise, and treat you if anything goes wrong."

Chakwas, she thinks, would put an end to this nonsense instead of suggesting and then _encouraging_ it, but it's their CMO's shift on the sleeper pods and she's not about to interrupt some well earned sleep. And, well, she _should_ be prepared to trust at least one of the aliens to have her back when they're ashore.

She sighs. "Okay. Fine."

Alenko smiles. "Let me go grab my kit."

He starts off down the bay to his locker, leaving her alone with Vakarian for the first time since the turian joined the squad. She shifts in her seat, restless, wishing she had a gun to clean or _something_ to do with her hands instead of simply sitting here in awkward silence. She'd only come over to this side of the cargo bay in the hopes of talking to Alenko once he was done with Vakarian, but the three of them had ended up plopping down on the floor as Alenko included her in the conversation, and now she's letting Vakarian suck on her blood?

"I'm surprised you said yes," he says eventually.

She folds her arms. "This is _just_ because you're better with electronics than T'soni."

He studies her, but she can't read turian expressions well enough to guess what he's thinking. "What is your problem, anyway?"

She has a lot of problems with him. For now, she'll start with the personal ones. "The first time I saw you you were telling your Executor to stall the Council," she points out. She doesn't even _like_ the Council and she knows that's a dumb idea. "The second time, you risked a civilian's life for an investigation that you'd been told to _drop_."

"I _had_ that headshot."

"What about the other guys surrounding her?" she demands. "What if they'd turned on her instead of us? You're reckless, and you don't seem to care about the law even when you're supposed to be the one upholding it. _That's_ my problem."

"Bullshit," he snarls. "I've seen the way you look at -"

Alenko's med kit thuds onto the floor. "Are we having second thoughts?"

"No," they both snap, and Ashley is immediately, irrationally mortified to agree with Vakarian on something.

"Okay," he says, holding his hands up as he sits down. "Just wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to back out before we get started."

"You _can_ tell me to stop at any time," says Vakarian. "It can get weird on the... donor's end."

"What, you've done this before?" she asks.

"When I was young and stupid," he says dryly. "Now I'm hungry and stupid."

"Oh, about that," says Alenko. "Don't take more than a pint, pint and a half, just to be safe. Two's manageable, but obviously the less you take, the sooner she'll be back in action."

Vakarian runs some conversions on his omni-tool, then looks up, almost smiling. "That's almost a whole meal more than I was getting today."

"Good for you," Ashley says. "Come on. Let's do this before I change my mind."

"Okay." Vakarian moves to her. "Are you right or left handed?"

"Right." She pauses. "What, not going for the neck?"

"I'm not a vampire, and I don't actually want to kill you," he says, rolling his eyes. Carefully, he wraps his talons around her left wrist to lift her arm a little.

"Yeah, no, I'm calling medic veto on the neck," says Alenko. "I've never lost a soldier under my command before and I'm not about to start today."

"Lucky you," Ashley says, barely holding back her bitterness.

They both look away from her, Alenko rubbing the back of his neck. Ashley finds herself wondering what her old CO from the 212 would say if he saw her like this, with a turian holding her wrist and about to suck her blood. Probably _I knew it_.

Eventually, Vakarian coughs, and gestures at her left arm. "We had a blood donation drive at the precinct once - I noticed all the humans had the needle in their arm?"

"Ah," says Alenko. He presses a thumb to the vein on the inside of her elbow. "Median cubital vein."

Vakarian tilts his head, considering. "She might try to close her arm before the venom kicks in. Where else is good?"

Alenko's thumb slides down to her wrist. "Ulnar artery."

"I don't think I want your face in range of my hand while you're biting me," she says. It'd be too tempting to slap him.

Alenko sighs. "Femorals. On the thighs."

Ashley makes a face. Too sexual. "Ulnar artery it is."

"Let me disinfect it first."

At first she watches him swipe the disinfectant pad over her wrist, but then she looks up at Vakarian, who may not realize he's licking - the air? is that what's happening? - as he watches the movement too. God. He's like a lizard.

He must notice her staring at him, because he catches her eye. "Still want to do this?"

She nods, because she's come too far to back down now. "Is this what you're like in bed?" she retorts. "Checking she's okay every two seconds?"

He rolls his eyes as Alenko finishes and sits up. "This'll sting at first," he says, but she doesn't have time to tense up, because he immediately lowers his face to her wrist and sinks his teeth into her.

"Crap," she blurts out, not because it hurts that much, but because she wasn't expecting it so soon.

"Still good, Williams?" Alenko asks, concern in his eyes as he brings up his omni-tool to monitor her vitals.

"Still good," she says. "But if this goes south, you'd better not send my mom one of those horrible Alliance form letters saying I'm dead. Write her yourself."

"I am not planning on writing any death notices today," he says.

She's pretty sure it's the chemicals kicking in when she almost feels silly for worrying about it. The pain's fading, receding for a wave of calm that's washing over her. Vakarian makes this sound in the back of his throat that vibrates through her wrist, and she's surprised to find that it's not unlike a cat purring. A big cat that could kill her if he's not careful, like lions in the old vids or something, but a cat that got the cream (or, well, the blood) all the same. Though the only pet she's ever had was a space hamster, the sound helps puts her at ease too.

Absently, Ashley pats the side of his face. He looks up at her, and for a second the eye contact as he drinks her lifeforce undoes her a little, but then he withdraws and she's almost disappointed.

"You alright?" he asks, that dual tone voice of his lower than usual and going to the same place that second of eye contact did.

"I'm _fine_ ," she says.

"You touched me. I thought you wanted me to stop."

She shakes her head. "If I want you to stop, you'll know."

He sighs, studying her. He still hasn't let go of her wrist. "I've never done this with a human before. Or even someone who isn't turian. I don't know much venom you'll react to, and how."

"What happened when you were young and stupid?" asks Alenko.

"This recon scout and I had a lot of tension to work out before hitting a Batarian pirate squad," he says. "The usual ways weren't cutting it, but some chemically enhanced trust did the trick."

"The usual ways?" Ashley echoes.

"Supervised sparring," he says, then pauses. "And a tiebreaker in her quarters."

"Ah," says Alenko. "Between lovers."

"Exaggerating the relationship, but basically." Vakarian looks at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she says, examining the twin wounds. "It doesn't hurt."

"A low dose is just a painkiller," he says. "Do you want some more? I could use more blood."

She tries to sound bored. "Sure."

Vakarian looks to Alenko. "How's she doing on your end?"

"Yeah, she's alright," he says. "No idea about the venom, but you can keep going with the blood."

For a moment, Vakarian traces one claw over her wrist. It would almost be sweet if he wasn't, well, turian. "Thanks for this. Really."

Ashley shrugs. "What human girl _hasn't_ had a vampire fantasy?"

Alenko splutters with laughter. " _You_ had a vampire fantasy?"

" _Years_ ago," she says, grinning. Vakarian goes back in without warning, making her wince for a second, but she keeps going. "You know, being ravished in more ways than one."

Vakarian's gaze catches hers, dark and intrigued, and she wonders if she's said too much.

"No ravishing in any way on my watch," says Alenko, sounding far more interested than authoritative.

"I'm not the one who hits on my CO, LT," she points out, and he suddenly finds her biofeed very interesting.

This time she feels the venom entering her like an injection, more of it than last time, but she's remarkably okay with this. Her world narrows to just the three of them in their huddle, Vakarian's mouthplates radiating warmth onto her skin, the glow of Alenko's omni-tool at her side, and somehow (probably the chemicals) it's the safest she's felt since Eden Prime.

"I'm going to lie down," she announces.

"Are you okay?" Alenko asks immediately.

"I'm good," she says. "Not dizzy or anything. Just - relaxed. I could do this all day."

"Except for the fact that you'd die," he says, dry. "Don't lie down flat, the blood won't flow as well. Here -"

He moves behind her, and Vakarian lets go of her long enough for her to end up half lying, half sitting between Alenko's legs, her lower back in his lap and her head on his chest, much more comfortable than she would have been on the cold metal floor. His right hand takes hers to steady her, his left with his omni-tool by Vakarian's head as he bends down to her wrist again. It's the most physical contact they've ever had.

She wants more.

Vakarian looks up at her, and she strokes the blue along his cheek, exploring the texture of his plating. He lets out a chirp, high pitched with surprise, probably.

"No good?" she asks, her hand stilling.

He waves his free hand then holds up one talon like a human thumb, so she tries again. This time he _growls_ , a lower sound than the purring earlier, and she feels rather than hears Alenko's sharp intake of breath.

Emboldened by both their reactions, Ashley lets go of Alenko's hand and runs her fingers to the back of Vakarian's head. She tugs gently on those weird horn things and Vakarian growls again, resting his free hand on her lower thigh.

"Don't stop," Alenko whispers, slipping his hand to her waist.

She has no idea who he's talking to, but she's not about to refuse an order from a superior officer, so she does it again, and again until Vakarian's moaning around her wrist, his grip so tight on her leg that she expects him to rip through her fatigues. Of all the people in the galaxy to like having whatever they have on their head pulled, Garrus Vakarian is not one she would have expected.

Eventually, she slides her hand down the back of his head to where the plating stops and the softer, thinner skin of his neck begins. As she rakes her nails over the line where skin and plating meet, Vakarian closes his eyes and whimpers. How vocal he is about his pleasure is a surprise, but then, her feeling up the head on his shoulders is probably a surprise too.

"Is _this_ what you're like in bed? Noisy?" she asks. It doesn't come out nearly as snarky as she intended.

She's okay with that.

Vakarian doesn't answer; at least, not in words. He simply meets her gaze, a low rumble in the back of his throat (she'd swear she could feel it) as he slowly slides his hand up her thigh.

 _Alenko_ groans, and as she shifts and turns to look at him, she smirks. "Is that an energy bar in your pocket, LT, or are you just happy to watch?"

His voice is huskier than usual, and slightly breathless. "Energy bars are in a different pocket, but you'll be eating one of those after."

As best as she can with Vakarian still on her wrist, Ashley sits up, intentionally grinding into his lap. "Will I, now?"

Their heads are so close together that he looks a little cross-eyed as his gaze drops to her mouth, but he says, "Regs, Williams," his voice soft.

"You're the one who suggested this," she points out. "Are you really planning on reporting me?"

Absorbed in the heat of Alenko's gaze as she deliberately licks her lips, she doesn't notice Vakarian's lifted his head from her arm until he snarls, "Spirits, Alenko, if you don't do something _I_ will."

Alenko stares at him for a second before his eyes flick to her vital signs on his omni-tool and then back to her eyes. "Williams, do you own concealer?"

"Yeah," she says. "Why?"

He taps something on his omni-tool. "Because he can take another three hundred mils," he says. "And you had a vampire fantasy."

"What?" Ashley says, and then Alenko's tugging her head to her shoulder and sucking at the side of her neck and _holy crap_ , her vampire fantasy didn't involve _two_ guys, one of them turian, but she'll take it.

For a moment, Vakarian simply watches her moan, and then he moves his hand up to her waist to meet Alenko's and goes back in. It must be the venom that's making the combination of him drawing her blood and Alenko pretty much pretending he's a vampire from the vids so potent, because every minute pulls her further away from the mellowness of Vakarian acting alone and further into a familiar, welcome tension spreading through her body like a gas fire and making her toes curl in her boots. It's insane. She's fully clothed and doesn't even have someone's hand down her pants and she's teetering on the brink of orgasm.

Though most of her, probably influenced by the venom and by their hands on her, is content to let this happen, there's a distant but stubborn voice in her head (it sounds a bit like her last CO) reminding her that Alenko's the superior officer and could probably find a way to report her without mentioning his own involvement, that Vakarian's turian and already knows she didn't like him and could mock her about this forever, that they're both _squad_ and they will never respect her again -

Ashley whines, as much frustration with her own fears as need, and Alenko murmurs, "Just let go. We've got you."

Not a word comes out of her mouth when she arches under their hands and mouths, because there aren't words for the way her release sweeps through her. Vakarian disengages, probably scared of nicking some important artery while she writhes, but traces his talons over her waist, watching her, watching Alenko kiss her jaw, her cheek. It's only when she stills that he sits up and touches his forehead to hers.

"What are you doing?" she asks, confused rather than actively minding the contact.

"Turian affection," says Alenko. His voice remains unsteady, and with his hard on still pressing into her, she feels a little guilty that he hasn't come, but with the blood loss, she doesn't have it in her to get him off.

"That's right," says Vakarian, and he turns from her to do the same thing to Alenko. "I think that'll stave off the hunger pangs for a while."

"I was going to stop you in a couple of minutes anyway."

Feeling faint, Ashley leans heavily into Alenko. If she wasn't sandwiched between their bodies, she probably couldn't hold herself up. " _Now_ can I lie down? My head feels weird."

" _Yes_ ," they both say, and as they ease her to the cool metal floor, Vakarian adds, "Weird how?"

"Light," she says, lifting her head just enough to take down her hair. "Don't worry, I'm not going to faint." Not now that she's on the floor, anyway.

Alenko pulls an energy bar out of his pocket and unwraps it for her. "Eat this once you can sit up."

The damn energy bar he said she'd eat later. She does take it, but she laughs, perhaps harder than the biotic medic keeping energy bars in his pockets really deserves.

"And here I thought that wasn't an energy bar in your pocket," Vakarian says, an undercurrent of amusement to his voice.

Alenko reddens, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'll sort _that_ out myself."

"Suit yourself." Vakarian takes the wrist he'd been drinking from for inspection. After a moment, he licks the small, dual wounds, and she feels warm all over again.

"Hey," Alenko warns. "No more -"

"It's _saliva_ , not more venom," Vakarian says, rolling his eyes. "It reacts with the venom to help the wounds heal faster."

"Fine," says Alenko. "But as the medic here, I'm still applying medi-gel when you're done."

"I'm happy with just this," Ashley says, unable to take her eyes off of Vakarian as he laps at her wrist.

"Medic veto, Williams," says Alenko, and then he stands. "I'm going to get you some water; replace those fluids. Vakarian, keep an eye on her vitals. Call me if she goes pale or has trouble breathing, or if her pulse speeds up, or if her skin's cool."

"I'm turian," Vakarian says. "Of _course_ her skin's cool."

Alenko folds his arms. "I'll give you numbers."

Vakarian shakes his head, pulling up a biofeedback app on his omni-tool. "I had to learn human baselines for interrogations. I can look after her."

"For interrogations?" she echoes. "So can't you just tell when I'm lying?"

"That's just a bonus," he says.

Alenko smothers a smile. "I'll be back soon."

Ashley watches his Alliance issue boots walk away, then lets her gaze drift to Vakarian, who's letting go of her wrist.

"Think you're okay to sit up and eat that energy bar?" he asks. "He'll kill me if you don't."

"'long as you cover me."

He gets it, keeping a hand ready at her back as she pulls herself upright, shifting closer for her to lean on when she sways, but eventually she manages to start eating. She can feel his eyes on her instead of on his omni-tool.

"Just for the record, I would have done all that too," he says. "The food, the water. Damn medic just got to it first."

"Someone to watch me's important too," she says. She waves the half-eaten energy bar. "I'd offer you some." _But_.

"You've already given me more energy than I was expecting today," he says. "Thank you."

She shrugs. "Alenko pretty much dared me to. Of course, if I'd known he'd get off on it..."

Vakarian gives a thoughtful hum. " _That_ , I feel like I should have seen coming when he suggested it. But _you_ surprised me too, Williams."

"Ash," she says.

"What?"

"You have my blood running through your digestive system," she says. "You can call me Ash."

"Ash," he says, testing it out, and she smiles without thinking. "There you go, surprising me again."

"What was the first surprise?"

She's prepared for him to say it was that _she_ got off on it, for him to call her easy for coming fully clothed with a superior officer on her neck and an alien on her wrist. She's not prepared when he says, "You trusted me to drink your blood without killing you."

"I didn't trust you: I trusted _Alenko_. At first, anyway." She pauses to think. "How long until this stuff wears off?"

He shrugs. "Half an hour for turians. I don't know about you."

"Ask me if I trust you in half an hour," she says, and she leans a shoulder against his chest, tucking her head under his chin. "Down."

Tentatively, he lays his talons on her waist as he takes her down to the floor with him, and he waits for her to make herself comfortable in the ridges of his plates before he says, "Garrus."

She closes her eyes. "Hm?"

"Not 'Officer' or 'Vakarian'," he says, stroking her hair. "Call me Garrus."

"Okay," she says. "Garrus."

Alliance issue boots echo on the floor, and Ashley looks up to find Alenko with a pitcher and a glass in his hands, a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth as he kneels down and pours her a glass.

"Drink up. At least four glasses before bed. Medic's orders."

She takes the glass, but only takes a sip before waving him closer. "Get in here. This isn't an exclusive Gunnery cuddle."

"Medi-gel _then_ interoperational cuddling," he says, opening his kit. "Wrist."

Obediently, she sits up and holds out her arm, drinking with her other hand. It's a little comical watching him tear open just the corner of a medi-gel packet normally used for bigger wounds and squeeze out barely a teaspoon for these two small wounds, but beneath the well practised motions there's an affection she's never seen on the field. She doesn't know what to do with it.

Garrus refills her glass as Alenko waves his omni-tool over the medi-gel to activate it, and, yeah, the licking had been more interesting, but she has more faith in medi-gel than in the combination of weird turian bodily fluids.

And more than that, possibly at least half due to one of those weird turian bodily fluids, she has faith in _them_. Once the medi-gel solidifies, she slides that hand to where Alenko's neck meets his shoulder and her other hand around Garrus' waist and raises an eyebrow meaningfully.

"Okay, okay," says Alenko, warm laughter in his voice. "Cuddle time."

They sink to the floor, her head and upper body on Alenko's chest, Garrus spooning her but wrapping an arm right around her to Alenko's waist, Alenko similarly finding a way to touch both of them at once. This is not at all how she imagined this evening would end but right now, it's perfect.

"Williams," says Alenko. "I left a message with Shepard saying not to take you out tomorrow. I just said you weren't feeling well."

"So, all biotic squad tomorrow," says Garrus.

"Mm."

"Hey." Ashley pats Alenko's cheek. "Call me Ash, okay? You don't have to stand on ceremony."

"Same goes for me," says Garrus. "Just Garrus is fine."

"I was trying to be professional," he murmurs, which seems ridiculous coming from someone curled up with _two_ of his soldiers.

"You left professionalism behind the moment you suggested we do this," says Garrus.

"I suppose I did," he concedes. "Alright. But only if you two call me Kaidan."

"I think I can do that," she says, grinning.

 

Garrus sits down across from her in the mess at breakfast with his meager starvation rations. She hadn't really noticed it last night, too absorbed in her own afterglow, but he's still looking a lot better than he had been before she let him feed from her.

"Do you trust me?"

She's not entirely surprised to find herself nodding.


End file.
